A Profile In Modern Luxury Design: Lexus CT Hybrid

Here's How A Hybrid Is Redefining Luxury

Instead of a steel roof over your head, what you find is glass. The black moon roof allows ambient light into the cabin, but keeps out direct sunlight. The seats are set low like they are in a sports car to allow the driver to enjoy a more responsive ride. However, those seats aren’t made from a hardened plastic frame with some foam attached. These are adorned in a material that looks and feels like leather, but weighs half as much and produces 65 percent fewer CO2 emissions than traditional synthetic materials. Oh, and they’re heated, too.

Thought has also gone into materials elsewhere. The carpets are partly made out of plants, and 90 percent of the car can be recycled — it’s intelligent design with a purpose. None of this is more clearly emphasized than in the engine — a 1.8-litre hybrid, that combines an electric motor with a petrol powered one. There is power and acceleration when you need it, but also economy and an almost silent ride when you don’t.

But you wouldn’t know any of this upon first glance, which is precisely the point. The CT Coupe is a car designed not to give everything away at its first opportunity. Good design is something that you feel. It’s an idea that the way something is put together becomes greater than the sum of its parts. It’s an ode to luxury from a previous time, and how the little things go a long way.